It's Not Always Calm After the Storm
by DragonChild42
Summary: Dipper comes back to Gravity Falls at age 19, Mabel is in college in New York and Dipper is planning to work with Ford without any interruptions... A certain triangle, however, comes back as a human with his powers and bonds to Dipper through a deal where he becomes Bill's personal worshipper. Dipper just wanted to start his new life working with his grunkles and going to college.
1. Chapter 1

Dipper had just gotten back to Gravity Falls the day before, immediately collapsing into the attic room that he and Mabel shared once upon a time. Since then, he had adjusted the room to better fit his needs so that he could work with Ford easily. He missed his sister, but she was pursuing her dream which made him unbelievably happy, and he was doing the same thing himself. He had wanted nothing more than to apprentice with Ford and at one point he and Mabel actually fought over it, she felt betrayed that he wanted to leave her behind but after several years of them talking it over she realized that she was looking forward to going to an arts college and going into the business she so desperately wanted to be part of. After a moment of collecting himself, he slowly walked into the woods from where he'd parked.

As he came upon the statue, he felt his heart skip a beat and his breath catch in his chest before he stepped up close enough to touch it if he simply reached out… He took a deep breath, raising his hand shakily before he set it on the smooth stone of the statue, exhaling in relief. It was real.. After all these years of continuing to come up from Piedmont, always staying with his grunkles, he finally had the courage to touch the statue of the demon that had caused him so many issues the summer he turned 13… Now it had been nearly six years, he'd had to get over it. He laughed quietly and smiled to himself, looking at the tattoo he had gotten on his arm as his hand stayed firmly planted on the statue. He had gotten a tattoo of the circle they attempted to use to banish Bill, sort of as a form of protection against him if he ever came back and tried to get into his mindscape the way he did Ford's.

Dipper finally managed to stand himself back up from his slouched state, patting the statue lightly before making his way back to his car with his hands in his pockets.

Bill's existence, because you couldn't really call it life, had become intermittent Hellscapes after that incident in Gravity Falls. He'd been ripped from the physical form he had so /painstakingly/ built, having lost any and all chances to re-enter it after what those idiotic mortals did. As an interdimensional being, it would be really freaking hard to erase him from all possible planes of existence, especially when starting with the semi-realism of the mind.

Or, at least, that's what he had said when they started to demand things of him. They threatened to send him back to his home dimension, reversing the damage he'd caused to it and placing him back into the ranks where he 'belonged'. There was absolutely no way he'd live through it if they did. His choices were limited, and he wasn't going to go back to being some round bastard's projectile if there was anything he could do about it. And there was always something Bill could do about anything. No matter what it took.

Six years. **SIX YEARS.**

"Learned your lesson yet, Cipher?"

"What if we broke your bricks?"

"Didn't think geometry could bleed..."

"It's trigonometry, you uneducated abomination of three-dimension garbage!"

He'd always regenerate. He'd always fight them with sass and class if not by saving his own ass. The scales hadn't weighed in his favour. The words he'd called before his... 'death'- they would guarantee his return to that dimension, but he didn't have enough time to specify beyond that. Bill was all about loopholes and specifications, and there were no words that could express how much it angered him to be fed those same tricks. Not even in the language of the Angerims.

They'd put him in what counted as a cell in that world, and he just had to wait until the axolotl decided it was his time.

Which, apparently, took those same half-dozen years.

There was a tug. He could feel it somewhere inside of his very being, the energy that created everything he was or could be.

And then he was falling. It was brief, with a flash of colour and blurred images, static and broken screams. Maybe some of them were his? Nah, his voice was much prettier.

It took him several moments to figure out where, what, and how he was. When he raised his hands to his face, they were black like usual, except this black wasn't his skin. It was... clothing. Gloves. Uh.

He looked past the alien phalanges, found more black-clad limbs that decidedly weren't his natural ones, and then recognized it as a /human/ form. Oh, great.

Then there was the fact of where he was. Which was- WHERE?

He was standing in the woods, okay, fine. A glance to the left- metal. Vehicle. Human made, by the looks. Or what humans thought were made by humans. Whatever. Might as well check it out. A fight with the door, because **WHO MADE THESE THINGS? REALLY, THEY'RE SO**\- Oh. He's in.

He slipped in with the grace of a long-legged rhino.

A glance forward yielded the discovery of glass, and Bill tried not to freak out about the small area because it was actually freer than the chains he'd been stuck in for the past- well, you know.

Reassess. Human body. Human area. By the feel of the energy wafting off of everything, this was... **THAT** dimension. The one he wanted to go back to. So that meant the Great Amphibian in the Sky was listening to the plea. Er- not plea, because that suggests he was begging for something. Call it a deal. A one-sided, very-necessary-for-survival deal.

The demon sat there for a moment, just staring at nothing in particular. Then he glanced behind him, over the edge of the chair he was dropped into. Ah. THINGS.

Well. What the Hell?

Bill threw himself between the seats, because the stuff in the back seemed much more interesting than the things upfront and he had to start somewhere. He rifled through what he considered junk. Books, clothes, whatever that was, bleh, bleh, bleh...

Dipper slowly came to a stop, watching whoever the fuck was in his car rifle through his belongings from his family's home in California. He actually found this kind of amusing, stifling a laugh because of how they had almost gotten themselves stuck between the front seats. He stood in front of the car at this point, deciding to scare whoever it was by honking the horn remotely from his key fob, a small grin tugging at his lips purely because he knew that it was probably just someone from town and not a threat. He clicked the button. A loud noise suddenly startled the blonde, which of course prompted him to try and sit up, but he managed to bash his head off the roof. Cue subsequent swearing in several dead languages.

Then that voice. That damned voice.

Dipper burst out laughing when he hit his head on the roof of the car, unable to help it. He'd been fighting the urge to laugh this entire time, especially considering the fact that he found it amusing that someone thought his car was worth breaking in to. "Aw man, that was totally worth it! I don't usually use that button. Can I help you find whatever it is you're looking for? I doubt you'll find interesting but I can save you some time by telling you that pretty much everything in there is from my being a dorky teenager." That wasn't a lie, he had absolutely been a dorky teenager (not to say that he wasn't still) and most of the things he'd made sure to pack were his physics and other various science books, including some of the things he needed for his classes in Gravity Falls. "I will say about the most interesting thing is probably are the BABBA discs in the CD binder on the ground."

Screw pop-music. This was WAY beyond that. Which meant that it was serious business.

"**HEY!**" the demon went to jerk himself up again, except this time he discovered his hips pretty much stuck between the chairs. They must've taken inspiration for this form from his triangle form, making the hips and shoulders wide with a tiny waist, because this is just-

Wait. Scoot backwards. Ignore the fact that you're apparently wearing heels because they're clicking against the dashboard, you definitely look better than anyone else. Waist is thinner than hips, therefore waist can fit through a smaller space, and...

He sat up with the speed of an angry vampire, slapped his head off the roof again, and for a solid second it was just numb before something in his new human body had him bringing his hands up to cradle his cranium as if that actually would help fix any potential brain damage. A single gold eye turned to stare blearily at the human in the doorway, the owner of said eye pretty much all folded up in odd angles. He had to talk through the throbbing pain, though, of course. "It's about TIME we meet again! Amphibian left me hanging there- **BY THE WAY**\- where the HECK have you been?"

The brunet slowly realized that the man spoke in languages that he didn't recognize, causing him to be extremely confused until he actually *saw* who it was that was in his car. "No. No no no no no nope not doing this nope wake up Dipper this is all just a bad dream, you're gonna wake up in the Shack and be perfectly fine. No demon looking like a human, especially not one that I fucking **BANISHED**!" He spun on his heels, throwing his hands in the air in defeat before burying his face in them. "This is literally impossible, you **CANNOT** be here! I banished you. We all banished you how the actual **FUCK** are you alive?!" He turned back to face him, eyes narrowing as he quickly stepped forward and pulled Bill out of the car.

Bill could pretty much watch the realization dawn on the kid. He had a few moments to find utter glee in the way Pine Tree becomes immediately upset by the realization of just who he's dealing with, and then the brat stepped closer and dared to touch him! No one gets to touch him! That was the point of being a non-physical entity in his natural body!

"I have been living my life ever since you decided to fucking scar it for all eternity, the one time I make a major life choice without my sister, of course, YOU'RE the one who's going to make living out here fucking impossible!" Dipper had never sworn this much in his life and he didn't know if he was going to stop any time soon, he was livid and he didn't think he even could get this angry... Except for when Mabel glitter-bombed all his clothes and he spent an entire week not talking to her for it.

"How the fuck are you even here Bill? I could have sworn we did this big ol' thing, gotten you erased from existence by ruining my grunkle's memory of **WHO HE WAS**!" He was physically shaking from how angry he was, gripping Bill's shirt tightly in his hand as he stared into the single gold eye, his own wide; full of anger and fear. Slowly the realization that Bill was actually there came to pass, he was *physically touching him* for the first time since he had made a deal with the demon.

For about two seconds Bill was actually approaching on fearful that he might just be punched in the face again, except Dipper seemed to not be thinking on the exact act of violence. Yeah, harsh reminder that this really wasn't his natural body. Normally he couldn't be dragged anywhere. Pain was hilarious until he had no choice but to suffer through it, and he was pretty sure the tightening in his chest (what a novel thing) was the flesh suit he'd been forced into chiming at him like an obnoxious seal that he wasn't going anywhere.

It felt pathetic, the way he was actually thrown off kilter enough to just hang there in the kid's grip and stare as he discovered that his weak little Pine Tree had apparently grown a backbone in recent years. And also had grown quite a few inches, because while the ratio of human body to his typical triangle form was way off, the kid had obviously reached a height that would surpass most twelve year old humans. Here he thought little Pines would be little forever if only you cut off their water source. What a shame he never got that opportunity.

"You're really here.." He was fascinated by how the demon had been killed, erased from existence and then suddenly in his hands after he touched the statue. When he thought about it more carefully, his hands went loose causing him to drop the demon on the ground before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair after taking his hat off, briefly revealing his birthmark as he started pacing. "How are you here though? I haven't done anything diff-... I touched the statue... **I TOUCHED THE STATUE**!" He screeched it suddenly, realizing that it was the one thing that had changed over the last six years. "I knew I shouldn't have ever thought about it... I wanted to make sure that you were really gone, that it wasn't just something that you made us see so that you could come back and torture me *again*..." He was starting to wear a groove in the dirt, frantically pacing as he gripped at his bangs awkwardly and strangled his hat in the other.

Dipper dropped him.

The demon made a loud 'oof' noise as he hit the ground, smacking his tail bone straight into the dirt and sending a jolt of pain up his spine. That was barely anything in the grand scheme of things, though, because he was slowly getting more and more irritated himself the longer he heard this pitiable 'oh no, the villain came back' speech. Something gold fell into his vision when he was jostled from the fall, and moment of blankness recognized the object as blond hair falling into his eyes, and then a moment later realized it was turning strawberry blond in the increasingly visible signs of rage left unchecked. So he could still do that. Dandy.

"Kid." his voice was a growl even to his own ears (still, wow, ears), but Dipper was still trying to dig his own grave with his shoes, so Bill tried again, sticking a leg out from where he was splayed out on the ground to try and trip the kid up from his pacing. If he fell, too, added bonus. "**PINE TREE**."

Bill pressed an arm into the earth behind him, pushing himself up enough to glare absolute daggers at the unfortunately very familiar human. "QUIT YOUR BABBLING ALREADY! It's not **MY** fault **YOU** were enough of an idiot to do the one OBVIOUS thing that would cause this happy little meeting!"

He didn't even pause, trying to coordinate his limbs enough to make some semblance of getting up from the ground. "Cry and whine all you want, kid! I'm **BACK** and you're DEAD for what you did to me! Don't think you're some SPECIAL MEATSACK because I gave you a few night terrors and some recommended therapy sessions! Those come pretty standard when playing with power you can't even comprehend!"

Even as Bill's leg invaded his space Dipper continued pacing, babbling to a point that not even he realized what he was saying... Until he tripped and landed face first in the dirt. "What the hell!?" He sighed heavily, pushing himself up on his elbows to look at the demon, the obvious annoyance increasing at the unfortunately familiar nickname that Bill had chosen years ago. "How was that obvious?! You were a **STATUE** or did you forget that?" He immediately stood up, walking over so that he was next to him, stepping on his hand so that he was incapable of getting up as he knelt down to be at eye level with him.

"I don't see how touching a statue of a demon that was supposed to be dead from being **ERASED FROM EXISTENCE** could possibly bring BACK said demon!" He was genuinely surprised at how pissed he was, this was actually the angriest he's ever been in his life and that's including when Bill literally locked his sister up in a fucking dream bubble to 'help' her forget that he wanted to work with Ford. "I have every reason to be pissed with you, I have every reason to try to **MURDER** you for what you did to me, my sister, my fucking uncles who I barely knew at the time! You did everything that has affected my life! I got this because I thought that it would help me feel more protected against you if you ever came back!" He yanked up his sleeve the rest of the way, effectively shoving the symbol that they tried to use to banish him in his face.

"There were night terrors but there was no therapy. There is no therapy that could possibly fix the irreparable damage you caused on my psyche." He put more pressure on Bill's hand, grabbing his shirt again and pulling him up close. "It's not that I didn't understand, I understood fully after what you did to Ford... You, simply go and find every loophole you can in deals you make, obviously lying through your teeth about who or what you are."

Bill didn't currently have a goal beyond 'kill the annoying thing' so the argument was petty and fueled by pride, but that didn't stop him in the least. A few curses in different languages were spit out, followed by an antagonistic, "How's the old geezer with that amnesia, by the way? Bet it REALLYsuits him in his old age!"

Dipper never thought that he would ever stoop this low, but the moment Bill brought up Stan, he slapped him across the face. "Don't you EVER talk about what you caused us to do... We had to take drastic measures and it worked... Regardless, Stan uh... Stan got his memory back.." He muttered it quietly, gently letting Bill go before standing and stepping back. "I'm sorry. I... I never expected to hit you..." He spoke quietly, picking his hat up off the ground before staring intently at the grooves he'd worn into the dirt. "I... Look... I'm really pissed at how everything happened, I never wanted to bring you back and I certainly never meant to. I didn't know that simply touching it would bring you back... I've avoided it every single day for nearly six years but this was the one time that I caved... I *needed* to make sure you were gone for real."

OH, YEAH. Pain was SOOO NOT hilarious when you couldn't just abandon ship and let the captain deal with the aftermath. Much to Bill's dismay, he was the captain of this vessel.

A hiss and a few inhuman sounds escaped the demon in a show of pain that just did not seem natural coming from him. The red tone his body was taking on dimmed down to become nearer to the original gold again as the pain increased, distracted momentarily from the anger. It dimmed even further from the surprise that actually manages to catch him when he's forcibly made to notice the tattoo, eye widening in recognition of the very same symbol that he came to despise let alone scoff at like he did before.

He'd been acting all tough and high-and-mighty about it back then from riding the high of getting as far as he did, because there was no way they were all going to learn the 'power of friendship' quick enough to make any difference. They probably had absolutely no idea just how close they came, though. If they just got a few more moments standing there together...

The ache managed to force down some of the demon's anger, but Bill's teeth were still gritted together as the human manhandled him and hauled him up by the shirt.

The last thing he expected was the first thing he anticipated, but in hindsight.

A hand smacked right across his face, and he almost laughed except that would use his mouth and now his jaw screamed.

His free hand came up to grab at the kid's wrist, but it didn't mean anything anyways, because just after he was being dropped again.

This time, however, he didn't have much distance to go. He caught himself just barely with an elbow in the ground, and he wasn't sure if he should cradle his face or his wrist, so he opted to do neither and just keep staring off to the side where he ended up facing from the absolutely deserved strike.

Not that Bill really acknowledged the fact that he deserved it for one thing or another, but someone or something out there was probably cheering for the brunet that got the one up that time.

"...Consider something." There was nothing soft about his voice, but it wasn't exactly shouting like he had been just before, either. His hair and eye were both stuck in that strawberry shade again, on the border of keeping himself barely together. His tone was all sarcasm and bitter spite. "Just like it's your human nature to be all curious and nosy and dumb about your 'discoveries', maybe it's mine to do that thing where I take your hand- with **PERMISSION**\- and all kinds of MAGICAL things can happen?"

The subtle color tint of his hair made Dipper panic internally, quickly biting the inside of his cheek as he shifted in front of him. He noticed every little thing at this point, the shift in Bill's voice, the way he stood and towered over Dipper, causing him to let out a muffled squeak in surprise of how much Bill scared him in this form. He wondered if it was his height or the way he spoke but he wanted it to stop. He never should have hit him, he didn't think about the repercussions that it could have on him after he did it. "I-I... I'm sorry." He couldn't think of anything else to say, he had dropped a demon and physically injured him in less than 20 minutes, causing him to panic silently as he took a step back.

"I only ever made one deal with you, and it ended with you almost stealing the journal." He spoke quietly, terrified of what Bill would do if he heard him speak. I... I didn't know... I wanted to make sure you were gone, I took six years to get the courage to actually make sure you were gone.. I felt it and didn't feel anything from it, no detectable magic anyway..

He slowly turned his head back to look at Dipper, and there was a fire in his eye that might be more literal any moment now. He tried again to make himself work to stand, getting to his knees with some shaky movements.

"WHY would you even be possessed to touch my old body, huh?" Oh, 'possessed' probably wasn't the right word there, oops. "I did a spell, kid. If old Fez got his mind back, then he should'a told you that! Whatever happened to Detective Dipper, eh? I wasn't /dead/ this whole time, idiot, I'm not MORTAL to begin with."

There was something particularly striking about Bill using simply insults like 'idiot' instead of colourful and downright questionable language. It seemed to mean something when he resorted to the simplest of terms to argue with someone.

As Bill continued to speak, Dipper was panicking and looking around to try and find an out to make sure he could escape if Bill decided to attack him. "I'm sorry that I hit you... And dropped you..." He actually let the other hear him when he apologized, hoping that it wouldn't cause too many problems. That was the last thing that he needed.

"You're all recovered enough now anyways, so what the heck! Who needs their 'psyches' anyways?" Friendly reminder that he'd lost his long ago to something he'd probably never tell anyone about. He resumed a fairly normal standing position, but Bill's posture was weird and very ram-rod straight. Probably from being a triangle, usually. "Gone for real or gone for fake, whatever. I'm BACK and once I finish business here I'm gonna blow this news stand with all of you in it. No LIES or LOOPHOLES there, **KID**." 

"Don't.. Please." He had a hint of desperation in his voice, hoping to god that he would be able to spare everyone from the horrors of Bill starting weirdmaggedon again. He had to hope that he could persuade Bill into not destroying everything and everyone that he loved, not hurting anyone either. "I... What do you want from _ME_?" He could only assume that Bill wanted payback on him for all the issues that he caused and he didn't blame him at all, he all he could think was that he deserved every second of what he wanted to do for revenge. "Is there anything that I can do to have you NOT destroy the god damn universe."

Ah. The begging and the apologizing. It earned a face-splitting grin suddenly sprouting across the demon's face. Before the unnatural expression set in, he would have actually been pretty attractive, not that he was aware of such a thing. Angular features, golden tanned skin- a gift to those who wanted one. But then there were the problems, which came with his personality. What was that phrase? A whole lotta crazy wrapped up in a whole lotta pretty? Sounded about right.

"Pine Tree." Bill called then, and once again there was nothing pleasant about the way his harsh, shrill voice demanded attention. He spoke somewhat lower than he usually did, though, and that alone was more unnerving as it proved how serious he was at the moment. "I have a bone to pick with pretty much everything in this dimension, but... Isn't there a certain something or someone in my way a little more than just you?"

It wasn't actually a question, because a moment later he was taking a clumsy step closer, and he grabbed Dipper's shoulder in a grip with strength that did not match the demon's slender frame. He was using his uninjured hand, the other flexing at his side as he worked on focusing his regenerating magic into it for healing. The already rose-gold eye flashed a more vivid red.

"I don't want just YOU, kid. It's your whoooole bloodline that had a hand in that 'erase Cipher like a stray pencil mark' scheme, if I remember right. And I /definitely/ DO remember, because I remember EVERYTHING." Which wasn't true because he forgot useless things all the time but they already established that he was a liar. "STAB out my EYE, FINE, I can get over that. I'mma nice guy."

He stepped closer and half dragged the boy forward, threatening and looming, unafraid to get close and upfront.

"**ERASE MY VERY BEING FROM THE MINDSCAPE- my OWN DOMAIN**, by the way-" Oh! Actually, that gave him an idea! He dragged the kid even closer, chest to chest, fingers digging into his arm. "...I'm gonna be a wee bit salty."

His voice dropped low, and somehow that was more terrifying than the high-pitched, nasally grate. The usual echo was gone in this human form, but he didn't even need it. "So, tell me, Pine Tree. Before I begin my deforestation company, _what's this pine forest worth to ya_?"


	2. Chapter 2

His voice dropped low, and somehow that was more terrifying than the high-pitched, nasally grate. The usual echo was gone in this human form, but he didn't even need it. "So, tell me, Pine Tree. Before I begin my deforestation company, _what's this pine forest worth to ya_?"

Dipper flinched as the fingers dug into his shoulder initially, trying not to show any more signs of weakness than he already had by looking Bill in the eyes. He didn't bother answering his question, knowing that it was rhetorical. He noticed that his eye was turning red, unsettling but he still attempted not to focus on it, hoping he could get himself out of this goddamn mess. Whoever thought it was a good idea to stick Bill with him once again, he wanted to kill. Especially Bill currently, however... He should have expected him to curse his statue and make it so he could come back. In hindsight, pretty stupid of him to do.

As Bill dragged him forward, Dipper lost his balance a bit, causing him to be reliant on Bill to hold him up. Something he didn't think was very likely because of having dropped him previously. He noticed that the demon continued rambling and sighed quietly, knowing he had done something similar but at least he wasn't monologuing quite like Bill was.

He felt his chest touch Bill's but didn't bother trying to fight it, the fingers digging into his shoulder would only hurt more if he tried to move or fight it at all. He did take it as an opportunity though to regain his balance, hoping that standing taller would help him out in the long run. "Everything. They mean everything to me." He didn't even hesitate, practically staring Bill down at this point. He didn't shy away, fight back or even flinch as Bill's anger rose. There was no point to doing so anyway, even if his fingers weren't causing his shoulder as much pain as they were.

"Don't hurt them. Just tell me what you want for not killing them. You're going to anyway, saying that whatever I have to offer isn't good enough before offering up your own solution... So just get it over with and tell me. I'll make a deal with you if I have to, but the terms will be strict so you can't find a loophole to fuck me over again." He muttered sternly, glaring at him instead as he offered it up. He didn't really want to make a deal with Bill again, having the last one end up with himself disembodied.

He stood up straighter from his previous position of being somewhat slouched over, as much as he could anyway with Bill's death grip on his shoulder. "I don't know why you have such a problem with me.. Remember, I brought you _**BACK**_ onto this plane, multiple times now." He smirked, hoping that it would at least cause Bill to think a bit more carefully before he simply agreed to make a deal with Dipper.

That _**DAMN**_ LOOK. If he could rip it right off that kid's face-

Bill's eye was already narrowed into a glare, but his already slit pupil thinned out to go from a cat's wild look to appear truly demonic. He actually went silent, staring with utter distaste, taking in the boy's image and apparently considering his words, surprisingly. Eventually, he started with just an irritated noise, "Tch."

Kid was right. In a jacked up kind of way, in Bill's not-so-humble opinion. The idea he had a moment ago came back to mind, and he pondered if he should actually go for it or not. Maybe. He'd work up to seeing if it would be useful or not.

"Familial bonds. _Useless. Burning. Trash._" he broke up each word dramatically, grin morphing into a sneer, a new sort of hatred in each hiss. Suddenly, he went from his harsh hold to shoving the boy down, unceremoniously aiming to throw him back into the ground. Bill didn't watch to see if he caught himself or not, turning his back on the kid a moment later. That in itself was an insult, because who turned away from someone they're on hostile (read: violent) terms with?

"Don't look at me like that, you brat. You've got nothin' to smirk at." He brought a hand up in front of him, palm up, and flicked his wrist a few times almost like someone trying to work a lighter. Usually this wouldn't seem like much, but with Bill gestures were probably everything since a lot of magic required them. The answers he was looking for in his own hand weren't apparently up to snuff, because he made an obnoxiously loud, irritated noise after a moment.

"Fine, y'know what?" he twisted his neck around at an angle that did _not_ look comfortable, throwing that fiery glare right over his shoulder at the human. "Let's do it. I could use the energy."

If he could regain all of the energy he'd lost being crammed into this fleshy prison without his consent, he'd be better off altogether. "You people ruined **EVERYTHING** for me. I could'a brought you back after killing you. Death isn't _permanent_ nine and a half times out of eleven, anyways!"

Not at all to say that he was going to do that, but the option was open if he so chose. Bill just liked to monologue like a super villain to get his points across, even if said points weren't entirely necessary to make.

"So, as a punishment for your over reaction to a little interdimensional party, I'm gonna return the favor." He was looking over his shoulder, still doing the odd hand gestures. "I won't physically destroy your precious kin of blood or whatever, as long as you..."

Actually, he didn't really know what he wanted. To cut the kid off from his family out of spite for everything they took from him, yeah. Ruin their world by striking them at their weakest link, of course. He needed the energy and a backup to get used to this new situation and body, because being forced into this world like _this _was NOT okay and he didn't _really _know how to cope. Deals and worship were what he needed.

"Swear yourself to me. All of it. Molecules and wavelengths and whatnot." Could be a battery! That'd be helpful. Then he could figure out what to do with the kid after that.

Dipper tried to catch himself but failed, collapsing on the ground with a muffled grunt from biting the inside of his cheek to try calming himself down from what he'd said to him. "I think the reason you hate my family is because _you don't have one of your own_." His voice was a barely above a whisper, pushing himself up with ease.

The angle that Bill twisted his head made him cringe, looking at him in slight confusion at how he was able to get his body at that angle. "How are you even doing that?" He meant that quite seriously, stepping closer to him quickly to try and figure out how he did it, his hand going to touch him to physically see how it was possible. "How you're doing that is _fascinating_." Sure he knew that Bill was still a demon and that he was pissed at him, but he didn't care how angry Bill might be at him, he wanted to know how he managed to get a human form to twist in that way. He might be curious, but he needed to make the terms of the deal clear.

"You want me to swear myself to you? Seriously? There's nothing there that you should want... Nothing about me is that special." He muttered softly, shrugging it off moments later. "Fine, but before I even **THINK** about shaking your hand, we discuss terms. Fully so that you can't possibly ruin my life again. First of all, I'm working with Ford, I'm going to classes and I'm living in the Mystery Shack. Nothing you do can interfere with that, this is important to me and the entire reason that I moved to Gravity Falls." He spoke firmly, staring the demon down.

"You have to _behave_ yourself. I won't accept anything you want, I'm still a free person and you have to respect that. I'm not going to be your slave or drop everything any time you want me to." He smirked slightly, wondering how Bill was going to react to how matter of factly Dipper was talking to him, knowing the demon didn't particularly like challenges to his authority.

Bill wasn't paying a lick of attention to what Dipper was doing until the kid started laying down the law as if he had the right to do so. Then he realized the hand extended out as if to make some form of contact, and immediately jerked away, spinning around to fully face the brunet again. He didn't even consider answering the question, just giving a raised brown in response as he clearly had no intention to quench the human's curiosity right then.

"...You're seriously doing that pointless partnership with IQ?" he sounded actually surprised (though very unimpressed), but then that faded away quickly, replaced again with that simmering ire. "Gotta amend that last bit. If I want you, I want you. There's nothing you can learn with that nerd that you can't with me. Actually, there's a _LOT _you can learn from _me _that you can't from **ANY **human."

Bill met the challenge with his own stubbornness, refusing to back down. This was _his_ wheelhouse and he'd be damned if he let some tiny, human, mortal- _**BOY **_run the show.

"Why live in that dump, anyways? Half a dozen years and _**I'M**_ the one that needs to move on, eh?" It wasn't a real question because he didn't actually care, and the demon glanced upwards as if swearing at the sky, but who knew who or what he was actually directing that to. He looked back to Dipper, "I said all of you. That includes your time."

He made a gesture like a circle in the air, and there probably would have been a clock drawn in midair if he felt the need to waste energy on theatrics. Normally he would've, but this was a time of preservation, even if he wasn't going to give that bit of sensitive information out to anyone. Then he splayed his hands out, an open gesture with a hand that still ached a little but he mostly healed. "But I'm not **UNREASONABLE**. Still, you've got to understand the idea that 'swearing' yourself is binding to an idol and their subjects. Which I am an idol."

So the kid took up that offer with his great uncle. That was a problem. Bill didn't want anything to do with Ford except to wring his neck, preferably with a spiked chain held by Bill himself, pulled slowly tighter and tighter until-

"Yeah, yeah, I'll _behave_ myself." Bill was a lot of things, and specific tended not to be one of those. He didn't go into detail about what would be expected if someone swore themselves to him on purpose, and definitely wasn't offering up info. "Is that all, Picky Pine Tree?"

He noticed how quickly Bill jerked away, letting his hand drop immediately. "I'm sorry." He didn't know about Bill's aversion to being touched outside of him making a deal and he felt bad that he tried to touch him without asking. "I... It's... Sorry." He couldn't figure out what else to say, glancing away with a soft sigh as he rubbed his arm awkwardly.

"Yes...? It's something I've wanted for the last six years Bill, that wasn't going to change suddenly..." He heard the surprise, it caught him off guard because he'd never heard the demon say anything in any tone other than anger aside from talking regularly. "I have classes and a job to do with Ford, you can't interrupt those! My job with Ford, alright that one I can almost understand, but my classes? Those are important. I can understand that you've got more knowledge than humans do, but these are actually something that I'd like to do..." He was rambling, not entirely sure if he knew what he was talking about at this point.

As Bill drew in the air he raised an eyebrow, understanding the basic concept of what he meant but not asking for specifics regardless. "I'm living there, that's the end of that particular conversation. However, I get it... All of me or whatever, just let me do what I need to before you fuck with me please." He rolled his eyes, looking back at the demon before sighing. "Fine, whatever... Yeah, that's all. Let's get this over with."

Dipper wasn't sure why he was doing this, he was smarter than this yet here he was, making his second deal with the evil little triangle... Wait he couldn't call him that anymore... Oh well. He simply resigned himself to this, rubbing his face somewhat before holding out his hand. "It's a deal." He still couldn't believe that he was doing this, already regretting that he was about to shake his hand _once again_.

He wasn't sure how Ford was going to react to this, Bill having a deal with Dipper like this means that he'd probably end up staying with him in the shack. Oh, they were going to kill him for this. "Does this deal mean you have to be around me 24/7?" He muttered it in annoyance, sighing quietly at the idea of his grunkles seeing Bill in human form and with Dipper.

How could this child apologize while also dealing away his life? Bill wasn't apologetic to anyone for anything, so that might've hindered his comprehension of the thing, but at the same time he knew what it was like bargaining and playing with delicate balances. It was strange, and not in the fun way. He refused to acknowledge it outwardly.

"You wanna live your boring human life, fine, I'll let it go for now. Let's not be too strict on that schedule, though, hmm? Leave some room for exceptions." He could totally bend those rules anyways, though, so no big issue, there. Bill sounded remarkably disapproving of the 'normal life' parts of this deal, but that was probably to be expected of a literal dream demon from a dimension no one had ever heard him talk about in more than passing remarks.

"Eh, we didn't say that, so... nope. As fun as it would be inconveniencing you, I'd rather not tie myself down into 'classes' that tell lies that I already know." The demon's reasonably unreadable face suddenly split into that unnaturally wide grin again, because he was able to _do his thing_ and make a _deal_. The terms weren't **IDEAL**, would love a slave out of a Pines, but there were ways around that if needed. With an enthusiasm that betrayed his recoil at the mere suggestion of being touched before, he practically bounded forward to throw a hand out, clasping the human's in a grip strong enough to suggest the kid wasn't pulling away even if he tried.

"But I'll probably be with you- let's say- _**A LOT**_. Since this whole 'physical form' thing and all that. Gotta get caught up on the Pines daily, y'know." The usual blue flames hadn't lit up like they usually would have, and he seemed to realize that a moment later. For a second Bill just stared, and then he rolled his eye in an exasperated motion.

"Oh, for the-" All of the red had drained out of his image, but the gold of his eye flashed that bright cerulean that seemed unrelated to him despite it being prominent in his magic. "Can't believe I have to resort to _saying _it- so stupid-"

Mumbled complaints, and then, "_Desiderium adimplere subponatis_."

A spark, a flare, and then the flame ignited. There was no heat, but more like a cooling tingling. Almost like how spearmint made your mouth feel, except it was anywhere the fire touched. He could definitely make it scorch and spread if he wanted, but he didn't this time. This was just to finish the thing before Dipper could be a wimp and change his mind.

The grin came back almost wider. "There we go!"

Dipper sighed as he effectively signed away his life, knowing full well that Bill was going to use the broadness of the terms for his own personal pleasure. "Just get in the car." He muttered, pulling his hand away after the deal was made. He didn't particularly care if Bill did it or not, he was driving away in the next few minutes regardless. "I'm leaving as soon as I start that engine if you're not with me you have to find your own way to the shack." He walked over to his car, opening the driver's side.

He took a moment to breathe after buckling in, looking expectantly at Bill once he was done. "You've got a human body now so you'll have to actually know how to take care of it... Buckle in." He really hoped that he wouldn't have to explain everything about taking care of his new form to him, that would just be embarrassing and quite frankly awkward. After a moment, he wondered if Bill could still read his mind, remembering that it was one of Bill's favorite tricks previously.

Brushing it aside, he started the car and got ready to drive back to the shack, expecting to have the most uncomfortable conversation he'd have with his grunkles to date... And that was including the time Stan tried to talk to him about sex.


	3. Chapter 3

At the shack, he was exactly right; Ford didn't like the deal at all, Stan was pretty damn confused about why Dipper would sign away his life and he still didn't understand all the science mumbo-jumbo that the kid and Ford talked about frequently... All he knew was that he _**HATED**_ the demon that he gave up his memories to banish because they couldn't get him any other way.

He sighed and just went to get his things, having had enough of the argument with his family for now. He'd agreed to meet up with Ford for some work later on though, something about helping him with other experiments he was conducting before he went through the portal. Not the shapeshifter though, everyone agreed that that was one to keep frozen as it was too dangerous for them to let out ever again. After all, it tried to kill Dipper and Wendy purely because it wanted the journal. He still didn't entirely understand why Ford did that experiment to begin with or how he found one, but that wasn't important in the grand scheme of things.

Right now he was absolutely buzzing with excitement, hoping to get as much unpacked as he could before he agreed to meet Ford at his lab. He didn't even bother to look and see if Bill was with him anymore, he didn't particularly care. All he cared about was getting his things at least set up enough for him to do his work and class load, he had classes starting soon enough and didn't need anything preventing him from working on his homework immediately.

"Where did I put that... I could've _sworn_ that I brought my laptop in..." He groaned grumbling and deciding to unpack his books instead.

He'd be riding the high of getting another Pines to make yet another deal with him for quite awhile. Bill wasn't even that argumentative about getting in the car with the kid, and even though he could apparently figure out a seatbelt without choking himself, he couldn't leave anything else alone.  
Violence and hostility apparently wasn't as big of a mar on a relation to the demon as it would be to most people, because in minutes he was just rambling on about whatever while playing with everything he could get his hands on.

He didn't make any mention of the inevitable meeting with the Stans, even though it was honestly looming over them both at that point in time. Bill had... a little bit of... not trauma... but...  
Okay, it put him on edge. Stanford was one of the _few living_ creatures on this plane of existence that knew _any_ side of Bill's personality, and that automatically made him a threat, but then Stanley was totally unafraid of getting in the demon's face no matter what Bill threatened the guy with. Usually that would just irritate (or amuse) him, but there were flashes of the events going past his mind's eye and memories of the things that led up to it mixed with the Hell that followed and-

By the time they got to the shack with the feeble mortal transportation, Bill had decided it was wiser for him to duck away for a bit. He said nothing to warn about that choice, just kind of popping away so that Dipper could do some of the explaining without having the demon's presence to make it worse.

If it was actually because he felt too weak to win a fight against two men with rightful vengeance plans and a kid that would potentially just let them do what they wanted, then he didn't make it obvious. He had some power left, but not quite enough regenerated to do just whatever he wanted, and this body gave him restrictions he hadn't had the chance to really figure out.

So that was what he'd decided to do in the meantime, after abandoning his new sort-of-servant to suffer whatever situation he got into with his relatives.

Breaking into Pine Tree's stuff again seemed like a fun idea and a great way to test some magic out.

The demon made his appearance known again only when Dipper came in to where Bill had kept himself invisible, sitting with the kid's laptop balanced haphazardly across his thighs. He flickered back into visibility when the boy started talking, and Bill made absolutely no gesture to relinquish his illegal ownership of the device.

"You did." came the abrupt answer to the question directed at no one.

"You should _really_ get a better password protection on this. Super simple." he was reading something, just whatever had come up on screen, eye moving side to side faster than most people could probably read and comprehend most words. That was assuming he was actually comprehending them, though he didn't look up, either. "Sounded exciting down there. Ford break out in anxiety rashes again?"

Dipper jumped when Bill suddenly spoke from behind him, causing him to place a hand on his chest to steady his heartbeat as he took a moment to even out his breathing. "_**Jesus fuck Bill**_ what is wrong with you." He muttered, turning around to look at the demon, obviously unamused. "Really? You think it needs better password protection? You sure you didn't just read my mind to get the password?" He didn't see the point in staying mad at him for long though, focusing on the fact that he needed to unpack. "Please don't do anything to that, I need it for class."

"Not that I could tell." He actually answered Bill's question instead of ignoring it like he normally would, actually being interested in the fact that Bill seemed to want an actual conversation. "You're actually having a conversation with me?" He smiled to himself, glad that he didn't want to interrupt what he was doing and demand that he pay attention to him. "What's the occasion?" He genuinely wondered if Bill had some ulterior motive to this.

"What are you reading on my laptop?" He recognized that constant eye scanning as he had done that constantly, slaving over his laptop and textbooks even as late as 4 in the morning. "Am I going to want to scrub my laptop history after?" He laughed somewhat, setting up his books on his bookshelf and continuing to putter around the room, only talking to Bill when he initiated conversation as he didn't know what else to say.

After about an hour of unpacking, he groaned loudly, collapsing back on his bed and rubbing his face. "I haven't had remotely enough sleep for this... I drove for eight hours and then immediately went to that stupid statue... Then the rest of my morning has consisted of dealing with a demon that doesn't understand how humans work... This is definitely not the best day I've had... Not the worst either though." He lifted his head, glancing around at the empty boxes and such in the attic, groaning again. "I'm only halfway done too... I'm seriously wondering if I have too many books." The bookshelf had been filled up and the rest were piled in front of it on the floor in a few messy stacks.

He got back up after another minute of laying on his bed, unpacking his clothes and moving the last of the boxes that he didn't want to deal with to the floor of his closet, kicking them in there as nicely as he could. "Finally... It's workable in here when I start classes and deal with the things that Ford gives me to deal with." He looked proud of himself, stepping forward for a moment and holding his hand out expectantly. "Laptop, please."

The 'what is wrong with you' earned nothing but a derisive snort, because he never treated that like a genuine question and even if he did the answer would take more than one human's lifespan to explain. A great magician never tells his secrets, and so Bill didn't even acknowledge the remark about mind-reading. If only the kid knew.

"I have conversations all the time. We've just never had a truce before." apparently Bill considered whatever they were doing now a truce. His attitude became less... moody, so far, now that he had some power over the kid and wasn't being as much of a cryptid.

"I'm a vast fountain of knowledge. What would _I_ be asking _the internet_ for?" He still didn't look up from the screen, and he didn't actually answer what was probably the important question. The greatest concern was probably more like what he was looking at in general, rather than if he had been searching for something. For all Pine Tree knew, he was on the dark web doing something incredibly nefarious.

The thing that might've drawn attention was when he started typing. He wasn't fast it and he hit the delete button numerous times, but that was just because human keyboards were unnecessarily convoluted in his incredibly biased opinion. Plus, he didn't have muscle memory for the keys, and kept squinting at the keyboard or various parts of the screen.

Bill only looked up when Dipper directly asked him for the device. He had been silent to the kid's exhausted sounding account of the day's events, surprisingly, but he had also been distracted by something else. Listening to a fleshbag's woes were low on his priority list... not that he had much room on said list, because his options were _very_ limited at the moment.

"Is that a request or a demand?" the demon's voice was blunt, and didn't make it obvious if he was actually asking or not. He paused, as if waiting for an answer, but turned around the laptop anyways so that Dipper could see what he was doing. The site that he showed was pulled up on some wild looking browser whose name was written at the top in a font that the computer didn't seem able to process properly.

Essentially? It looked like alien e-bay. "You want these guys tracking you or you wanna give me a second to ensure your intergalactic security? That's what I thought, now hush. I'm busy."

Dipper didn't pay attention to the typing, much too distracted in what he was doing for the time being. "So this is a truce? I don't see how we made a deal, that's like your whole bag of tricks there." He laughed at himself again, obviously amused by how easy it seemed to be to poke fun at his currently. He wasn't entirely sure if Bill was being serious about this or if he was just trying to fuck with Dipper, that was a favorited method of torturing him previously after all.

He had noticed that Bill wasn't as moody and easier to talk to, it actually surprised him but not to the point that he would let his guard down even for a moment. Bill was still a demon after all, even if he was more "human" he figured better safe than sorry. "That's actually a good question so again I ask what are you doing?" He rolled his eyes, sighing quietly.

When he started to type he perked up a bit, watching him carefully even as he moved around and unpacked things. He didn't want Bill to be doing anything that might put his computer or his own safety at risk. He snickered slightly, watching how Bill fumbled with the keyboard or had to squint to look at things. "I think your lack of an eye is doing ya in there buddy." He couldn't help the snickering as he went about his own business, not particularly caring how Bill would react to his words. He needed to keep Dipper around if he wanted to keep that contract going after all.

"Both, it's my laptop and I need it back." He waited but when Bill showed him what he was doing he practically screeched, noticing how his laptop was struggling to process the words. "Jesus fuck Bill you're gonna wreck it if you keep looking at things it can't handle.." He glared up at the demon, annoyed that he thought he could do whatever he wanted with the electronic. "Intergalactic security? Seriously? You think someone cares enough to wonder what a barely 18-year-old man from Earth with nothing special about him to track what he does on his laptop?" He looked confused, watching whatever it was Bill was doing on the computer.

"I... Okay... I guess I'm not prying that away from you any time soon." He rolled his eyes once again, plugging in the radio he'd brought with and shamelessly putting one of the BABBA CDs in. He didn't particularly care what Bill thought, he just flopped back on his bed, hooking the hat over one of the posts before starting to fuck around on his phone.

"Keep talking like that and _I'm_ gonna do _you_ in, _buddy_." was the demon's snappy comeback, sounding half-offended and maybe half-amused. Maybe.

"What a dumb question, kid. Notice, _kid_, not _man_, 'cuz you're not." he laughed then, a shrill bark, "I happen to remember an incident where **SEVERAL **people cared what a few random schmucks in nowhere Oregon did with everything on anything."

Then he turned the screen back to himself, starting back in on his slow typing. At some point the thing started making a few weird, concerning noises, but the demon just unconcernedly knocked his hand against the screen and it suddenly stopped. Whatever he was doing was unholy.

For the first several seconds of pop music starting up, the blond demon had no discernible reaction. And then his eye twitched. And his fingers tapped at the keys without actually pressing them.  
And then he suddenly slammed the computer closed and stood straight to march over to the human, dropping the thing unceremoniously on the kid's stomach.

"I'm **TRYING **to find something to **BETTER **my situation here and **YOU **are **NOT **_helping_ with this cacophony of disco's _absolute_ suicide!" he was seemingly more annoyed than actually angry, evident in how there was a scowl on his face but his hair remained bright gold. "If you want some _real_ background music, try Sheppard's Tone. This cheery Swedish bop is _not_ doin' it, Pines."

It wasn't the disco vibe or the woman's voice or whatever, but the happy-go-lucky, 'take your friends' hands and roller skate in a circle' vibe was just-  
Migraine inducing.

In his natural form, it would've been enough to screech at. This human body seemed to have ears made for it, so mostly it was just a hatred for positive symphonies that led him to have such an adamant reaction.

Dipper glared at him when he refused to address him properly, sighing as he just resigned himself to the fact that Bill was going to make his life as hard as possible and it was his own fault since he made the deal with him. "I've got more experience than most other '_**kids**_' my age." He muttered angrily, going back to his phone without even thinking twice about it.

He heard the sounds his laptop made and immediately jumped up, watching Bill smack it before it went back to normal which was definitely concerning. "What in the hell are you doing to my laptop?" Bill seemed to not care about what Dipper was saying and more focusing on his own actions. He just rolled his eyes and went back to relaxing on his bed, giving a content noise at the familiar music and comfort of his bed.

"There's nothing that you can do to better a situation that you caused yourself, you're the one who made the deal remember? You didn't have to. You could have just blown me off but you didn't seem to mind much when it came to getting me to swear myself to you." He smirked despite being annoyed by the weight dropped on his stomach. "And thank you, you put this exactly where I wanted it." He stuffed his phone back in his pocket, opening up his laptop and looking at whatever it is that Bill was doing on it.

"What exactly is it that you're trying to do to better your situation here? It's entirely possible that it's something that can be done without you trying to destroy my laptop with whatever program you're running on it." He muttered in annoyance, trying to figure out what it was he was doing on his own without Bill telling him. "And this is my room, I will play whatever music I wish. If you don't like it, you're free to leave at any time... Unless you need to be near me 24/7?" He was genuinely curious as to what it was that Bill got out of this deal, he just wanted Dipper to swear himself to him without any explanation, maybe he could pry it out of him slowly.

"You assume that this deal is the situation I was referring to." Bill replied, conspiratorial but not revealing anything. He stood there looming over the brunet for several moments, debating how honest he was going to be in answering the questions, if he was even going to try at all.

"No, I wouldn't confine myself to _you_ for what you humans count as 'constant' time periods." He grinned, bearing pearly white teeth and demonic fangs, and it wasn't a pleasant look. Then the blond put a knee on the edge of the bed, slung his other leg over Dipper's, and threw himself to the side to fall into the space on the other side of the kid. Bill didn't seem to mind contact if _he_ was the one to initiate it.

But someone putting their grabby hands on _him_?

**NOPE**. Thanks for **NOTHING**.

"Look." Apparently Bill decided to be informative in a rare show of- not really generosity, but more like he had nothing better to do right that moment so he might as well throw out some info to his 'worshiper', since the kid might be useful after all. He jabbed a gloved finger at the screen without much care for the device's safety, pointing out what looked to be a listing of various un-earthly looking things and indicating one particular item that seemed remarkably similar to a Ghosthunter's pack. "That, for a ridiculously _lame_ example, is a rent altilium. Take notes, kiddo, because I'm not repeating this."

His voice was unreadable, his resting expression apparently somewhere between annoyance and blank apathy. "It's one of the lower grade batteries. I'm talking harness the power of the SUN, alright? Found in the Horror's Street Market in the Ninety'Nth dimension, usually, but _this_ bad boy right here is like the online **BLACK MARKET** of interdimensional imports and exports."

Which... he might need something like that... because if this body ended up proving itself unable to withhold all the energy he would typically procure simply by making deals and having worshipers...

"Are you following? Because, if not, I'm just gonna stop trying to break it down into mortal terms for you."

He was obviously confused by what Bill meant, unsure what he was referring to when he wanted to change his situation. "Well, of course, you wouldn't. You never have Bill." The grin was mildly unsettling, causing him to actually inwardly cringe at it but when he started to get on the bed, he flinched immediately. "What the hell...?" He blinked as he threw himself on the bed next to Dipper, but found himself almost enjoying the close contact... Even if it happened to be a powerful demon able to kill him with a snap of his fingers.

Dipper was quick to keep up with Bill, even if he was mildly distracted by the warm body next to him. "You won't need to repeat anything, you've seen me keep up with your monologing before Bill." He rolled his eyes, following his finger to where he was pointing on the screen with some mild confusion. It was still new to him to have a demon who at this point, had monopolized his laptop into something that he almost didn't recognize at this point.

"You need it to get your power back? That would be the most logical guess to me anyway considering that it's a battery... Unless you're looking for something to harness the energy?" He was mildly confused but was hoping that he could bluff it well enough to trick Bill into explaining more.

The way it felt to be so close to Bill made him infuriated but he scooted a tiny bit closer, hoping that the other wouldn't notice. He was just loving every little bit of heat that he could soak up, the weather hadn't been the best in California and Oregon was no different... Plus normally he would just cuddle with Mabel but she wasn't here anymore... He wondered if that was what was making him enjoy the close proximity to him.

"I don't need it to get my power back, I pretty much have my power. I _told_ you, Pine Tree, I'm a being of infinite power." Bill drawled, glancing at Dipper with an expression that suggested he thought the kid was an idiot. He turned his pointing hand towards the brunet, wagging his finger at him like scolding a dog before just dropping his hands again.

"Well... Normally. I'll only tell you this because it's your problem, too, now that you've promised yourself away to me. But tell anyone else and I'll delete all your files. I saw what you keep on that thing." Probably one of the least violent things he'd threatened the Pines boy with, but there were _insinuations_ in his words that had a chilled edge to them. That vivid gold eye narrowed dangerously, a warning. "The problem isn't the power, it's energy. I'm **MADE **of it."

That was pretty backwards, and whether or not Bill realized, he added to it, anyways. "When I possessed you- and don't glower at me, get over it-, I put all that energy into your body. If I kept it up too long, you would probably have been incinerated from the inside out."

He didn't seem to find an issue with that in the least. "Sooo... What do we think might happen with this one?"

The demon didn't wait for an answer, "And what's a battery for? _**Storage**_. It's a backup, for when I'm getting that energy back. Which reminds me, I need you to be a little more 'worshipy'."

He gesticulated wildly for that, practically doing jazz hands at the mention of worship. Surely **SOME **people still know how to properly honour their idols? What do gods even do anymore? Everything's pretty self-sustaining, so Odin's probably just sitting around feeding his birds and putting his goth son in the bad kid corner.

Dipper had to admit that the way he shook his finger at him was amusing, causing the brunet to snicker. Bill was treating him as if he were a child which wasn't too funny, but if he were doing it in a sense that Dipper would take seriously he would have more of an issue with it... This just made him smile from the ridiculousness of it.

"You wouldn't _dare_." He glared at him, knowing that most of them were safe, one of the files was an extensive research paper about his time in Gravity Falls. The rest, however... There were some that Dipper was honestly embarrassed that Bill saw it. The eye narrowing made him shut up and listen to him more carefully, looking back at the screen instead of the demon. "I know **THAT**." He rolled his eyes at Bill, grabbing his journal and immediately flipping to the page about the demon. "You do realize that Ford kept extensive notes on you right?"

"I don't know about that actually, that body wasn't something that you chose right? I doubt that whoever made it for you would make it so that you could burn yourself from the inside out." Dipper raised an eyebrow as Bill told him to be more 'worshipy', not really sure what it was exactly that he was supposed to be doing.

"What do you expect from me? I'm not sure how you expect me to worship you." He sighed, finding himself scooting closer to the warmth of the demon with a soft hum. "I mean the amount of warmth that you give off is pretty nice.." He mumbled, not really caring what he said too much at this point as he was caring much more about how he was coming across to Bill. He was getting warmed up in the cold weather and obviously enjoying the close contact even if he wasn't exactly touching him.

Bill's eye focused on the journal, looking reproachful. Damn. Those are still around?

He resisted the urge to lunge for it with a literally burning vengeance. It was touchy subject for him, so he didn't mention how he also lied for pretty much that whole time with Ford. Playing nice, being _friends_... Most of those notes? Either wrong or out of context, he was sure. But he had to watch. See if he could get a hold of that thing again.

"Of course I can self-destruct in this thing!" he announced instead, once again giving Dipper that, '_are you stupid_' look. "If I burned this thing out, I'd just be stuck in a husk until I could figure out the next step. _They_ aren't anyone's friends, kid. Maybe I can introduce you, see if ya live."

Not that he was going to ever go back _there_. Alone or not.

Another derisive snort, like Dipper should've known the answer to that question. Bill still paused, though, considering the best way to supply a solid reply. "...The first thing you could do is shut off that damn music. Makes me think those voices are coming back again."

He was deadpan about that, but then fell silent for a moment as he finally noticed how the kid was... moving closer. The demon grew tense, and his expression closed off from the... not exactly openness, but there had been some emotion of differing levels.

"...That's... A start." Sort of?! If you pushed it, maybe." Bill minutely leaned back. "...It can be pretty much anything. I mean, virgin sacrifices and forsaken voyages in my name are always great."

The demon seemed alarmingly serious about that, blinking once, twice, and then ducking his head away to stare at the brunet from the corner of his eye. "Or you could just do whatever you do for that half-baked pop band. You worship what you lov- like, after all. Draw the symbols, say the name... think about them without pause."

"You can stop looking at my journal like that, you aren't getting your little demony hands on this ever again." He was dead serious, glaring at him intensely. "Seriously, that would interfere with my work **AND **classes." He smirked like the smug little shit he was, stuffing it back into his jacket hurriedly.

Dipper noticed the way he talked and frowned slightly, wondering exactly what it was that made Bill so upset over who or whatever it was that put him in the form he was in now. "I didn't know, you have to remember that almost everything about this situation is new for us both. I'm used to you looking like an angry Dorito!" Some part of him hoped to whatever god or gods there may not be that he didn't know what a Dorito was, he was pretty sure that Bill would take offense to it.

"..._Fine_." He begrudgingly turned off the music, huffing quietly and pouting a bit as it was one of his favorite songs that started to play right as Bill told him to turn it off. When he noticed Bill's reaction to him getting closer he shifted away from him back to where he had been previously, hoping that it would make him a bit less uncomfortable. Sure it wasn't something that he particularly needed to care about but that didn't mean that he wouldn't.

"You do realize that virgin sacrifices would get me _arrested _and in enough trouble that you wouldn't have me around to give you what you need right?" He rolled his eyes, listening to the demon closely to see if there was anything else he would give him on the matter. "Hey... You alright...?" Bill's sudden looking away set off alarm bells in his head as he'd never seen the demon do anything of the sort until now. "Bill... I can only do this if you _actually tell _me what you think will work. I can't give you the energy that you need unless you tell me."

Oh. He was _definitely_ getting that thing. Even if he had to tear off Pine Tree's stupid jacket to get it. But that was in due time. There were... bigger issues to address first, especially since certain things were more time-sensitive than others.

'Dorito' sounded like an insult. He didn't know why, how, or what, but it sounded like an insult. _Rude_.

"Pfft, like I couldn't get you out of prison." He had active arrest warrants out for him in numerous dimensions, not to mention the good number of time he'd broken/cheated/lied/bartered/bailed himself out of confinement of all types. Sure, the last time he ended up just waiting until things worked out for him, but if it took _too_ long he definitely would've figured something out.  
Except for that stupid spell over the town. Now _that_ was... wait. Was or is? He didn't actually know if that was still a thing now that he had been bound to a single, solid body.

"What kind of question is that?" No one asked him if he was 'alright' or 'fine' or whatever. It was a pointless inquisition of the well-being that generally communicated false care and only garnered lies for answers. A perfect tool for deception, but _not_ one for normal conversation, as far as he was concerned.

He was _not_ **just **bitter.

And he also did _not_ wait for a reply.


End file.
